Jonathan Riddell has announced the availability of the first alpha build of Kubuntu 14.04, one of the five Ubuntu subprojects that have opted to provide images for early testing of "Trusty Tahr": "Kubuntu 14.04 Alpha 1 is available for testing. Try it out now if you want to help debug before our release in April 2014. Highlights: the upcoming KDE Applications 4.12 release is promising greatly improved reliability and performance; Kubuntu 14.04 introduces award-winning Mozilla Firefox 26 as default web browser; plugins in Gwenview can now be installed on-demand from inside the application; includes the 3.12.0.7 Ubuntu Linux kernel which is based on the upstream 3.12.4 Linux kernel...." Read the complete release notes for more details and known issues. Download: trusty-desktop-amd64.iso (957MB, SHA256, torrent). Other alpha 1 testing images released today include Edubuntu (download, release notes), Ubuntu GNOME (download, release notes), UbuntuKylin (download, release notes) and Xubuntu (download, release announcement).

Kubuntu is a free, user-friendly Linux distribution based on KDE's desktop software and on the Ubuntu operating system. It has a biannual release cycle. Besides providing an up-to-date version of the KDE desktop at the time of the release, the project also releases updated KDE packages throughout the lifetime of each release.

Kubuntu 14.10, the latest version of the Ubuntu variant made for fans of the KDE desktop, is out: "Kubuntu 14.10 is available for upgrade or install. It comes in two flavours, the stable Plasma 4 running the desktop we know from previous releases, and a tech preview of the next generation Plasma 5 for early adopters. Plasma 4 is our recommended stable offering and what you get from the default download, but is now in maintenance mode. It runs the software you are familiar with and will be getting updates and bugfixes but not new features from now on. Plasma 5, the next generation of KDE Software is still a work in progress. You can test it and install it from the Kubuntu Plasma 5 image but beware it will remove your stable software. We love testers but no support is offered. If there are problems you may need to reinstall to revert back to Plasma 4." Read the rest of the release announcement for a full list of features and screenshots. Download links: kubuntu-14.10-desktop-amd64.iso (1,017MB, SHA256, torrent, pkglist), kubuntu-plasma5-14.10-desktop-amd64.iso (1,176MB, SHA256).

Jonathan Riddell has announced the release of Kubuntu 14.04, a new version of the desktop Linux distribution shipping with the shiny new KDE 4.13.0: "Welcome to Kubuntu 14.04 LTS, a brand new long-term supported version with the latest KDE software to enjoy. Long-term support means that bug fixes and security updates will be added for the next 5 years, so you can be safe to use it until 2019. New releases of important KDE software will also be available from the Kubuntu Updates and Kubuntu Backports PPAs. Software highlights: the KDE Applications and Platform 4.13 release introduces a greatly improved semantic search as well as stabilization and improvements in key applications like Okular; Mozilla Firefox 28 as default web browser; Muon Suite 2.2 brings additional improvements to our Software Center applications...." Read the rest of the release announcement for a full list of features and screenshots. Download: kubuntu-14.04-desktop-amd64.iso (1,017MB, SHA256, torrent).

Jonathan Riddell has announced the release of Kubuntu 13.10, an Ubuntu variant featuring the latest KDE desktop environment: "Welcome to Kubuntu 13.10, a brand-new version with the latest KDE software to enjoy. Highlights: a new versions of KDE's Software Compilation 4.11 is featured in Kubuntu 13.10, adding faster Nepomuk indexing, Kontact improvements such as a new theme editor for e-mails, and preparing the ground for future developments using Wayland and Qt 5; Muon Discover - a friendly new way to discover and install applications; User Manager - a simpler way to manage your system users; wireless setup in installer; KDE Telepathy with better text editing and improved notifications; the new Network Manager applet gives a simpler UI for connecting to a range of network types; for a summary of the OS installed use the new About System page in System Settings...." See the full release announcement for more details, screenshots, known issues and information about the new Kubuntu shop. Download: kubuntu-13.10-desktop-amd64.iso (976MB, SHA256, torrent).

Jonathan Riddell has announced the availability of the second alpha release of Kubuntu 13.10, along with development builds of Lubuntu, Ubuntu GNOME, UbuntuKylin and Xubuntu: "The second alpha of the 'Saucy Salamander' (to become 13.10) has now been released for testers and early adopters. This alpha features images for Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu GNOME, UbuntuKylin and Xubuntu. Highlights: KDE Plasma and Applications 4.11 RC1 - this upgrade from KDE adds faster Nepomuk indexing, Kontact improvements such as a new theme editor for e-mails and prepares the ground for future developments using Wayland and Qt 5; Muon Discover - a friendly way to discover and install applications; includes the 3.9.0.7 Ubuntu Linux kernel which is based on the upstream version 3.9.7 Linux kernel." See the Kubuntu release notes for more details, screenshots and known issues. Download: saucy-desktop-amd64.iso (957MB, SHA256, torrent).

Jonathan Riddell has announced the availability of the first alpha build of Kubuntu 13.10, one of the four Ubuntu subprojects that have opted to release alpha images for public testing: "Early adopters of 13.10 can try out Alpha 1, now available for download or upgrade from 13.04. Highlights: KDE Plasma and Applications 4.11 Beta 1 - this upgrade from KDE adds faster Nepomuk indexing, Kontact improvements, such as a new theme editor for e-mails and it prepares the ground for future developments using Wayland and Qt 5; Muon Discover - a friendly way to discover and install applications; includes the 3.9 Ubuntu Linux kernel which is based on the upstream 3.9.7 Linux kernel, the 3.9 release contains improvements in power efficiency, as well as support for KVM virtualization on ARM." See the full release notes for screenshots and known issues. Download: saucy-desktop-amd64.iso (957MB, SHA256, torrent). Other alpha 1 testing images released today include Lubuntu (download, release notes), Ubuntu GNOME (download, release notes) and UbuntuKylin (download, release notes).

Jonathan Riddell has announced the release of Kubuntu 13.04, a desktop-oriented Linux distribution featuring the intuitive and customisable KDE desktop: "Welcome to Kubuntu 13.04, a brand new version with the latest KDE software to enjoy. Highlights: the current release of KDE's Plasma Workspaces and Applications 4.10 adds a new screen locker, Qt Quick notifications, colour correction in Gwenview and faster indexing in the semantic desktop; new version of the Muon Suite for application install and upgrades; version 2 of our Reconq web browser adds a bunch of new features, such as inline spell check, new incognito mode, pinning tabs, improved error page and simplified Rekonq pages; Homerun - a full screen alternative to the Kickoff application menu; a new screen management tool...." Here is the full release announcement with screenshots. Download: kubuntu-13.04-desktop-amd64.iso (928MB, SHA256, torrent).

Jonathan Riddell has announced the availability of the second testing release of Kubuntu 13.04: "Welcome to the 'Raring Ringtail' Alpha 2 release, which will in time become the 13.04 release. Highlights: the latest release of KDE's Plasma Workspaces and Applications 4.10 adds a new screen locker, Qt Quick notifications, colour correction in Gwenview and faster indexing in the semantic desktop; Kubuntu should now be able to support UEFI Secure Boot, a standard for controlling what software can be run on a computer; includes the 3.8.0-6.11 Ubuntu Linux kernel which is based on the upstream 3.8-rc6 Linux kernel; 13.04 is distributed with an updated default toolchain that includes GCC 4.7.2 and eglibc 2.17; OpenJDK 7 is the default Java implementation...." Read the release announcement and release notes for more details and known issues. Download from here: raring-desktop-amd64.iso (910MB, SHA256, torrent).